Rex Ingram

Tongue-in-cheek fantasy film set in Baghdad and loosely based on the One Thousand and One Nights medieval story. On the run after being found sweet-talking the Sultan's daughter, Aladdin comes upon a lamp which, when rubbed, summons up Babs the genie. He uses it to return as a visiting prince asking for the princess's hand. Unfortunately for him, the sultan's wicked twin brother has secretly usurped the throne, someone else is after the lamp for his own ends, and Babs has taken a shine to Aladdin herself and is bent on wrecking his endeavours.

A compulsive gambler dies during a shooting, but he'll receive a second chance to reform himself and to make up with his worried wife. Chronic gambler and carouser "Little" Joe Jackson is shot by Domino Johnson at Jim Henry's gambling club over an outstanding gambling debt. Little Joe's wife, the God-fearing Petunia Jackson, prays not only for her husband's mortal life, but also his eternal soul as she's afraid that if he dies now, he, despite not being an evil man, won't make it into heaven. As Little Joe is close to death, he is visited by agents of both the Lord and of Lucifer. They make a deal with him: they will give him six months to atone for the errors of his human life. Once back on Earth, he won't remember the deal but both the Lord and Lucifer will be watching over him, trying to get him to see things their way. As both sides try to get Little Joe's soul, they figure that some of the most powerful tools they have at their disposal are the women in Little Joe's life: Petunia on behalf of the Lord, and Georgia Brown, a gold-digging floozy, on behalf of Lucifer. As hard as both the Lord and Lucifer try to get Little Joe on their side, they don't factor into the equation human judgment, which turns some of their work against them. —Huggo In this musical, Little Joe, an inveterate gambler, promises his wife Petunia he'll reform and confess his sins at church, but he slips out the side door to play craps at the Paradise club; he's shot and brought home with a mortal wound. Petunia offers powerful prayers, and Joe gets a six-month reprieve. Heaven's forces, led by the General, and those below, led by Lucifer Jr., try to pull Joe their way. Lucifer Jr. has a not-so-secret weapon, the sultry Georgia Brown, and his idea men cook up a great scheme to win Joe's soul. The General has Joe's good intentions and Petunia's inventiveness. Will she and Joe reach their cabin in the sky? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Little Joe is a compulsive gambler, who has promised several times to his wife Petunia that he'll quit this bad habit. Petunia is a very religious woman, and every Sunday goes with Little Joe to the church. Little Joe has debts with another gambler, which are threatening him to pay quick or assume the consequences. One day, Little Joe seems to make a serious promise to Petunia that now he's definitely out of gambling, but at the first opportunity, when the woman is distracted, Little Joe runs away to the casino. A shooting takes place at the casino, where Little Joe's severely injured. The unfortunate man, despite Petunia's prayers, dies and his soul makes a deal with the General, at God services, and Lucifer Jr.: to become a good husband and quit gambling in a lapse of six months, otherwise, his soul will be condemned. Little Joe resuscitates and apparently is behaving well, but later he finds out that has won a big money prize. He and a seductive singer, Georgia Brown, begin to hang out and exhibit themselves with elegant clothes, expensive jewelry and a luxurious car in front of Petunia. The General and Lucifer keep watching Little Joe, and maybe this could be his last chance. —Alejandro Frias

While fighting in Libya during World War 2 Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and his M3 Lee tank lovingly referred to as Lulabelle are attached to the British Eighth Army. A retreat order comes through and Joe and his crew, Waco (Bruce Bennet), and Jimmy Doyle (Dan Duryea) are separated from their division and travel across the desert hoping to avoid Rommel's troops, when they meet a rag tag group of British soldiers at a field hospital unaware of the retreat. In desperate need of water, Joe and his new passengers head into the desert toward the site of some ancient Roman ruins that contains a well many miles into the sand. Along the way they rescue an Italian soldier who goes by the name of Guiseppi (J. Carrol Naish - who was nominated for an Academy Award "Best Actor In A Supporting Role") and a Sudanese soldier and are attacked by a German fighter 'plane. They shoot down the 'plane and take the pilot prisoner and soon learn that there are hundreds of German soldiers needing water who are also heading for the same well that Gunn and his crew are heading for. When Gunn arrives at the watering hole the flow of water is very slow and they work diligently to get enough for themselves. Wanting to slow down the incoming Germans and prevent them from rejoining the war, Gunn sends Waco out across the desert hoping to get relief from the British 8th Army, but the question is whether the desert may prove to be too much.

An escaped prisoner must prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with help from a spirited schoolteacher. In suburban Lochester, New England, three people end up living together in high-school teacher Nora Shelley's rental house. The first is her new tenant, renowned Harvard law professor Michael Lightcap, who has rented the house for the summer while he writes his new book. The second is Nora herself. After an auspicious first meeting, Lightcap hires Nora to be his live-in cook and secretary for a week until his manservant Tilney arrives. The third is Joseph, the property's gardener, who is currently laid up with a sprained ankle. In reality, Joseph is Nora's childhood friend Leopold Dilg, who has just escaped from prison. Leopold was being tried for the arson of the factory where he worked, and for murder for the death of the factory foreman Clyde Bracken, whose body was never recovered but who is assumed to have died in the fire. Despite the danger to herself, Nora hides Leopold since she believes his story that although he, as an activist, did speak out about the dangerous conditions at the factory, he did not set the fire, which he assumes was done by the factory's owner, Andrew Holmes, to collect the insurance money, while having Leopold as a scapegoat. Nora campaigned to get the job with Lightcap to be able to better hide Leopold in the house. Leopold escaped because he knew he would not get a fair trial because of the rabble-rousing Holmes conducted against him. Lightcap and who he knows as Joseph end up getting along famously, although activist Leopold believes Lightcap's view of the law is too clinical for him to truly be a great lawyer or great judge. Nora and Leopold learn clandestinely that Lightcap is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Nora, Leopold, and Sam Yates, Leopold's lawyer, try to get Lightcap involved in helping Leopold by showing him that Leopold indeed will not get a fair trial. In the process, Lightcap might show Leopold and Nora that his current way of thinking has much merit. —Huggo When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson (and murder; one man was lost). Escaping, Leopold hides out in the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley--which she has just rented to unsuspecting law professor Michael Lightcap. As Lightcap's unwelcome guests, Nora and Leopold drag the professor willy-nilly from theory to practice. The story blends comedy, thriller, philosophy, mystery and romance. —billaknz@gmail.com When accused arsonist Leopold Dilg escapes jail, he hides out in the home of old friend and sweetheart Nora, who happens to be renting a farmhouse to Supreme Court candidate Michael Lightcap, but she lets Dilg hide in the attic while Lightcap gets settled. The next day, she introduces Dilg as the gardener. In conversation, though, Lightcap realizes that the gardener has a lot to say about the law. Nora and Dilg team up to convince him that Dilg was framed. The three dodge the cops, try to capture the real crooks, and discover that both men have fallen for Nora. Two different endings were filmed, one in which Nora gives her heart to Dilg, the other in which she leaves with Lightcap. Guess which one remains at the classic comic conclusion. —Fiona Kelleghan <fkelleghan@aol.com>